Driven by a desire to find new structural polysaccharides using enzymatic syntheses or genetic engineering of microorganisms or plant hosts, researchers have discovered polysaccharides that are biodegradable, and that can be made economically from renewable resource-based feedstocks. One such polysaccharide is poly alpha-1,3-glucan, a glucan polymer characterized by having alpha-1,3-glycosidic linkages. This polymer has been isolated by contacting an aqueous solution of sucrose with a glucosyltransferase enzyme isolated from Streptococcus salivarius (Simpson et al., Microbiology 141:1451-1460, 1995). Films prepared from poly alpha-1,3-glucan tolerate temperatures up to 150° C. and provide an advantage over polymers obtained from beta-1,4-linked polysaccharides (Ogawa et al., Fiber Differentiation Methods 47:353-362, 1980).
U.S. Pat. No. 7,000,000 disclosed the preparation of a polysaccharide fiber comprising hexose units, wherein at least 50% of the hexose units within the polymer were linked via alpha-1,3-glycosidic linkages using a Streptococcus salivarius gtfJ enzyme. This enzyme utilizes sucrose as a substrate in a polymerization reaction producing poly alpha-1,3-glucan and fructose as end-products (Simpson et al., 1995). The disclosed glucan triacetate polymer formed a liquid crystalline solution when it was dissolved above a critical concentration in a solvent or in a mixture comprising a solvent. From this solution continuous, strong fibers were spun. After regeneration back to glucan, cotton-like fibers, highly suitable for use in textiles, were created and used.
Solid articles can be made from wood pulp. Often, fillers or adhesives are used to hold the wood pulp together. For example, starch could be used but is water sensitive and synthetic binders are used but not very biodegradable.
What is needed is a wood pulp article that is environmentally friendly but not water sensitive.